Chapter 37: Reaping the Whirlwind

A/N:

Oh my stars… she posted!

How many of you thought I did exactly what I said I wouldn’t and just up and disappeared? Well, SURPRISE! I didn’t.

I did disappear without a word for over a month though. *Hangs head in shame*

I promise though, it was for two very good reasons. The first was a medical issue. The veins in my legs started swelling again, so I went to a cardiologist. It turns out the valves in my legs stopped working correctly and let me tell you… it freaking hurts like a bitch when your blood moves in both directions inside the same vein. I’m going to have to have a medical procedure to seal the blasted things shut- which I tell you to warn you. It may take a while to get out another post. I just can’t focus with it on top of my other pain problems. I do try though.

The second reason has to do with a very different type of pain- my grandpa passed away. This chapter is dedicated to him because he always believed in me, confident I’d be a best-selling author one day. When I told him I’d started writing this fanfic, he encouraged me, excited I was writing again even if it was a story based on someone else’s. I will always love him for how much faith he had in me. This one’s for you, G-pa!

So the good news? This chapter ran away with me and turned into a long-assed one.

And I do mean long. Longer than the last one, which, by the way, if some of you are wondering about the pink lycra suit Sookie found, the Viking wore it in SVM when he escorted Sookie to an orgy. Apparently Pam picked it out. I know, whaaat? And they didn’t put it in TB? Shame on them.

Actually, it’s probably the length of two rolled into one. BONUS! Right? Keep an eye out for the POVs, I do go back and forth in this one.

Anyway… I had a chapter all outlined, just waiting to be written, and then my muse popped up, snatched away the outline, and ran off with it. I still can’t find where that sneaky bitch hid it.

I thought the Authority would be making an appearance, but the chapter took an emotional turn and the stoic vampires fled. They may not show up for one or two more chapters. Apparently I’m going to have to bribe them with blood donors to get them to return.

Maybe by then my muse will get her ass back here with that outline?

Somehow, I doubt it.

Disclaimer: I do not own TB or SVM. Charlaine Harris, Alan Ball, and HBO do. I’m just showing them the error of their ways… and the Viking just so happens to prefer me. Boo-yah.

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I turned back to her with a stoic look, but my lips twitched anyways when I felt the bond morph into pure relief. I snatched up my jacket with one hand and held the other out to Sookie. In a blink, we were both below Sookie’s house in their new day-rest area. Sookie shot off down a hallway to find Godric and answer his call, something all vampires were compelled to do, though sometimes we had a little leeway depending on the strength of the call. Based on the fact that Sookie didn’t even pause to show me around, I could tell she dawdled as long as the strength of his call would allow. Compton hadn’t compelled Jessica when he called to her a few nights ago, probably too weak to put enough force behind it after dealing with the wolves. If the strength of a maker’s call was gentle, then the maker’s progeny could wait years to answer the call before feeling that compulsion. If there was genuine force behind it, the progeny would have no choice but to literally drop whatever they were doing at the moment and search out his or her maker. Only being released would end that ability to be compelled. Godric could’ve summoned us both, but Sookie was the one he was training. I had already been pushed from the nest, so to speak, and Godric rarely called me anymore.

I took a look around while I waited for the two of them to come back out and found myself pleasantly surprised. Sookie owned the farmhouse but kept the same décor after her grandmother died, so I just assumed she liked the country style, that it suited her tastes.

I really needed to stop assuming things about Sookie, maybe then I wouldn’t be surprised so often.

The main room was a contradiction to the style of the rest of the house with its more modern vibe, but I could still feel Sookie in it. The room was light and airy, which was hard to accomplish in a basement. The walls themselves were painted a light coffee color, like a cross between mocha and cream, and the wooden floor differed in shades of light and medium colored boards, set in no particular pattern. She very cleverly incorporated golden accents throughout the room by painting the molding at the base of the walls golden, matching the color of the picture frames on the walls, and used a thin golden rope to line the crevice separating the walls from the ceiling, framing the entire room in a unique way.

Instinct told me Godric chose the furniture. He was always drawn to more earthy tones and the couches’ wooden frames may have matched the walls in coloring, but the fabric themselves were a forest green. I knew for a fact Godric built those couches, which were set up perpendicular to each other, as well as the unique coffee table taking center stage in front of them. The coffee table itself actually looked like it was petrified wood, polished and preserved beneath a layer of glass forming the table’s actual surface. He held the same love I did for working with wood and I could see his touch in the grain of the furniture, which meant he stained the wood for Sookie to match the paint she’d chosen and created the table himself, probably years before. There was a golden throw pillow tucked into a corner of each couch but the things that really made this room a part of home to Sookie were the, ironically, human touches.

A handmade quilt was folded over the side of one couch and I could tell by the scent it was crafted by her Gran. An antique, crystal vase holding freshly cut roses sat on the middle of the coffee table. An end table was slipped in between the couches, stained to match the color of the tree bark of the coffee table, yet I could tell it wasn’t Godric’s work, so someone in her ancestry crafted it and a lamp sat on top of it. The original lamp shade was cream colored, but Sookie had found a beautiful mixture of golden and green lace to fashion over it, adding to the beauty of it by letting the cream still peek through. A worn, but intriguing rug woven together with an amazing plethora of varying green hues rested beneath the table and when I looked closer, I could see the figures of real fairies intricately woven into the design. It was done in such a way that only supes would ever really see them, so it was a rare piece created by a Brigant.

The most interesting and amazing thing of all was the corner of the room. A tree had been sculpted and shaped to fit perfectly into the corner, making it appear like the room had been built around it and the rest of the tree trunk would be just beyond the wall. It was made of a mixture of chrome and gold, with branches naturally shaped upward, disappearing into the ceiling. Golden and green sculpted leaves sprung from the lower branches and when I took a closer look, I realized imitation pearls and gemstones were embedded throughout the bark and branches. I smiled when I realized why they were there; she had created fairy lights. Finally, there were the photos. She displayed the ones she loved in golden frames, decorating the walls with the faces that brightened her life in a seemingly random pattern with beautiful green leaves painted between them like they were all caught up in the wind as it flowed throughout the room, like they were once part of the tree itself.

I studied the photos closer, taking in the faces I had come to realize made up Sookie’s family; Lafayette, Jason, Tara, even the dog Merlotte, and froze when I came across a familiar scene, realizing it was a security shot from a camera outside Fangtasia. It was a picture of the night she raced Godric to Fangtasia and someone (Pamela came to mind) had printed out a still for Sookie. The camera caught the exact moment after Sookie launched herself into my arms, Godric appearing behind her with a shit-eating grin, and Pam with an actual amused look on her face while the checkered flag she threw was frozen in midair. Fangbangers were crowded all around us, about which I seriously didn’t give a shit, but their presences just drew the focus to Sookie in the middle of it all, laughing in my arms. I didn’t need to look at each image to know she had more, I could feel it in my bones. Sookie had put her loved ones on these walls and had gone out of her way to find an image of me, images of her bloodline, to add as well. She had added us to her family.

This was what she spent her daylight hours doing, I suddenly realized. She had used her vampire speed to make their day-rest area a home.

She mingled images of those she considered family like Tara and Lafayette, her actual kin like her idiot brother and her Gran, and her vampire kin, her bloodline, randomly throughout the room. Not only was there a clip of the race, but there were also sneaky cell phone pictures taken of me when I wasn’t looking, a few Pam must’ve texted Sookie of her favorites (luckily including the night I met Sookie), photos she took with Jessica before Sookie’s turning, and pictures provided by Godric, which I could tell by their positioning in the center that Sookie loved them the most, probably since the most recent had been during WWII.

I hadn’t realized she’d managed to scatter my emotions into static all over again until I felt her prodding the bond, snapping me out of my dumbfounded stupor. I made her emotionally blush by drowning our bond in love and a desperate urge to do naughty things to her, ducking when I was suddenly smacked violently on the back of the head, shocked when I realized it was Godric who had done it. I immediately reigned in my emotions so Sookie could focus and sent a sheepish apology to Godric. I knew he needed her undivided attention.

Still, I fucking loved this woman.

SPOV

Oh boy, I was in trouble.

I was in trouble on so many different levels it wasn’t even funny. Somehow, all in the last few days, I had joined an alliance with a werewolf, entrenched myself in a plan to take down an ancient bloodthirsty vampire king and his army of wolves, hunted down and turned in my former lover for his misuse of the vampire blood, became the sponsor of a baby vamp, joined a secret class of unknown elite vampires, and started a bond with a thousand year old vampire I once thought I hated.

Oh, I forgot about the fact the current queen was out for my blood, literally, and I didn’t even want to think about the Fae.

Yet none of these things scared me except one… Eric.

I felt like I was flying down the highway at high speeds and suddenly my brakes had gone out. It was exhilarating and frightening all at once. I was breathless from the love he had for me yet I couldn’t find my equilibrium, my center. I needed to slowdown, find my footing, but anytime I looked at that dangerous Viking I found myself willingly stepping into the whirlwind all over again. I couldn’t find purchase around him, couldn’t grasp onto something solid. Since I couldn’t find solid footing, ground I could trust, I did the only thing I could.

I trusted the whirlwind.

And I prayed that when the world stopped spinning, I wouldn’t be in trouble alone.

But looking at my maker and his very stern face I sensed I was very much in trouble now.

And, unfortunately, I knew nobody else could help me carry this particular blame.

“Sookie,” he said stoically and it felt like the very word dropped like a hammer. He sat behind his desk in his newly built office like a judge deliberating my punishment. And, for some weird reason, it felt like he was deciding whether or not to send me to the electric chair.

How odd that it felt like my maker was about to give me the death sentence.

I winced under the weight of his judgment and unhappiness in the bond and bowed my head in submission, looking anywhere and everywhere except his carefully schooled, expressionless face.

I hated that face.

Not Godric’s face. His expressionless one. It reminded me too much of how he looked the night I met him, when he sentenced himself to his own death and I’d rarely seen it since the moment I rose.

Fitting now that he wore it when I felt like he was sentencing me to my own death.

I conveniently ignored the fact I was technically already dead.

I eyed the blank white walls, the empty built-in bookshelf that lined the one to the left, the boxes stacked high in the corner, and would’ve eyed the ceiling if I felt like I could raise my head high enough to stare at it too. Part of me wished I had decorated this room earlier as well, if only to give me more things besides Godric to stare at. It felt wrong to fill this space though. This space was Godric’s and I yearned to see him put life into it, to create something that reflected himself- the part of himself that wanted to live.

I had literally decorated the entire level, which was big enough to be an expansive penthouse if it weren’t beneath the ground. All four bedrooms, the main room, the bathrooms, and the meeting room housed behind a secret wall with its own little blood nook. I’d done it all today. Of course, I planned everything out when we designed the space back in Texas and the walls, moldings, and more intricate details had been finished by the supernatural construction crew Godric had contracted. At 2,000 years old, he had more than one favor shored up and this particular feat had been a favor from a vampire contractor, Niko. Amazingly, his crew only did the meeting room, under the ruse it was a panic room, and Niko glamoured away their memories of the job afterward before building the rest of our home beneath our home. It was the only way possible to get it all built in under a month.

It was risky using a contractor that couldn’t be glamoured, but apparently this one owed Godric his life and Godric, who truly was the best judge of character, felt he could be trusted. However, now that we knew I could glamour vampires, I had a very strong feeling Godric and I would be visiting him just to guarantee our safety.

It saddened me a little to think Niko would forget creating this space. Sworn to secrecy about my turning, Niko sat with me several times and mapped out every detail, with the occasional input from Godric. He was one of the very, very few who knew about me before we met up with Eric and it was only because Godric wanted me to have control over every detail. Niko did it all; the architecture, the construction- he even painted the rooms, sculpted my family tree, and designed the gorgeous leaves. He was a genuine artist and it felt wrong somehow to make him forget the artwork he forged in the building of what was in essence our home.

The only room we left untouched was the library/office Godric insisted on. He hadn’t forbidden me to design it. In fact, I think he actually expected me to, but I wanted him to have a space solely his and purposefully left it blank. He didn’t get the hint and never gave Niko any directions beyond the architecture of the room, but I think he finally got it now. He literally rose to a fully decorated bedroom and I probably would’ve felt his shock when he realized this room was left completely blank if I hadn’t been so swept up with Eric.

I idly wondered if I was in trouble for that too. If I was, I had an honest and plausible excuse.

I blamed the whirlwind.

When the silence stretched out between us became big enough to fill a canyon, I finally glanced upwards, quickly averting my eyes once again when all I was met with was that face. I cringed and meekly said, “I apologize, master. I swear I didn’t mean to. No one was harmed- I…” I stumbled over the words and finished in a rush, “did it accidentally. I’d promise not to do it again, but I’m not sure I can control it.”

If I had been brave enough to meet his eyes I would’ve seen the look of confusion briefly flicker on his face, but I caught it in the bond. His confusion spurred my own and I suddenly wondered if I was in trouble for something else entirely.

“Sookie, child,” he said, his tone softening, coaxing me to look up and finally meet his gaze, “what did you accidentally do?”

“I accidentally threw Eric into bloodlust?” I said questioningly, as if I suddenly wasn’t so sure myself.

Shit. I was in trouble for something else entirely.

Humor briefly flickered in the bond, quickly replaced again by contemplation and judgment before I had the slightest chance to feel any sense of relief.

“You accidentally threw Eric into bloodlust,” he repeated, but he said it like he was only just now considering it. Finally, he hummed and agreed, “Yes, you did. The deepest bloodlust he’s felt in centuries…” I grimaced, confused when humor briefly lit up once again, amusement now added to it. “How did you manage that?”

This time I blushed and his glee shot through the roof. I glared at him, embarrassed that he was going to make me actually say it, “He… provoked me.”

His damn eyebrow shot up and I heatedly argued with it, skating over the fact Godric hadn’t actually said anything, “It’s not fair to blame me when the fairy comes out, damnit! It’s not like I can stuff her glittery ass back in the mason jar when she pops out! How the hell was I supposed to know the fairy in me would unleash the damn feral tiger in him!?”

Apparently that wasn’t what Godric was expecting because his eyebrows soared and our bond suddenly summersaulted with surprise, mirth, and amusement. It was enough to bring my anger down a notch and had me tempted to crack a smile until I suddenly felt Eric’s hilarity and amusement as well.

Fucking vamp hearing. I should’ve sound-proofed this room.

Their mirth doubled and I knew without asking that my blood had shouted that thought. I gave them both very firm warning pushes that said I had water balloons full of liquid silver with their names on it, really not surprised when I heard Eric start laughing through the wall in response. Godric sobered pretty quickly though and said, “Sookie, you are not in trouble for Eric’s bloodlust. He is responsible for his own actions and has a thousand of years of control he should have used.” Eric immediately got the point and our bond suddenly turned remorseful with a layer of shame mixed in. I reached out and absorbed it immediately, about to argue in Eric’s defense when Godric added, “But I cannot fault him either for the slip. It is difficult learning to embrace emotions after years of suppressing them. Even I slipped into bloodlust when you taught me to feel again. I haven’t forgotten and I am still remorseful for that night and grateful for what you taught me.”

I felt Eric’s shock like a beesting, it literally shot out and stung me through the blood. Yeahhh. Godric in bloodlust was not fun. Trying to corral a two thousand year old vampire out for blood was difficult to say the least. That was the night I first closed down our bond. Unfortunately, Fairy Sookie had instigated that episode too. Godric had definitely evolved in his life, but he hadn’t evolved in all ways. He tried to force me to shut down, to live in my predatory state, certain total emotional control was the best way to survive, like he taught Eric. Because I could completely level out, he tried accelerating the training a bit and the fairy in me lashed out. I snapped the bond shut, insisting that if vampires were not supposed to feel, then why did our very blood link us emotionally? Why did we feel the emotions of our blood kin at all if we were supposed to be so tightly controlled that we felt nothing? I had a very different theory, that vampires were supposed to immerse ourselves in the emotions we felt, not reject them.

Rejecting those emotions was exactly how monsters were created in the vampire race. Feeling helped us retain a level of our humanity. I challenged Godric and deliberately provoked him into feeling that night, intentionally pushing him. When he slipped, it took drastic measures to bring him back, but I did it by bringing out an emotional response, shaking him free of the bloodlust similar to how I used love to wake Eric up.

It took a wee bit more effort with Godric.

Okay, it took a lot more.

I had to stake myself.

When he felt my physical pain, he snapped back into maker mode and out of predator mode. I tried restoring the bond and prodding his emotions first, but when that still didn’t work and I realized he was quickly approaching a populated area, I snapped a branch off the nearest tree and thrust it through my shoulder. The pain was enough of a shock to bring Godric out of it and to my side. He’d changed his philosophy on emotions since then, realizing concern not control was what restored his senses and never again tried to force me to master my emotions, but to manipulate them, to manage them, instead. The key was to allow yourself to feel what you were feeling, but be aware of what you were feeling and not let that emotion solely dictate your actions.

Eric hadn’t been taught to do that. Instead, Godric had urged Eric to suppress them for over a thousand years, so I really wasn’t surprised that bottled up emotion exploded like a shaken soda pop when I twisted the lid off it. I was oddly proud of Eric’s progress though. With Godric, I literally had to confront him about his methods but Eric had been starting to allow himself to feel for months without being pushed. He’d come to the realization suppressing all emotion wasn’t the way all on his own. Godric had realized this, just as I had, and hadn’t seen the point in informing Eric of something he already knew.

Obviously, he should’ve said something after all though because I was still being stung with Eric’s shock. It had to be unnerving to hear his maker had changed one of his fundamental beliefs, had altered how he viewed something for over 2,000 years in a single night. I hesitantly pushed Eric reassurance, a little unsure of how to soothe the shock, but Godric took over and washed their bond with the one emotion that could help, acknowledgment. He acknowledged not just that he had been wrong about emotions, but that he should’ve shared his own epiphany with Eric sooner. Eric sent back a strong wave of agreement that made my lips twitch and a gentle push of gratitude to me before fading into the background again.

“Sookie,” Godric tried again, steeling his face once more, “I didn’t call you to me to discuss Eric. We need to discuss Jessica.”

I blanked. Jessica? She was fine. I actively kept an eye on her tie at all times and currently she was with Pam, feeling excited and hopeful about joining our bloodline tonight.

Godric looked at me expectantly and I felt a small wave of frustration flare in our bond before it clicked.

Oh. Jessica. He meant the ceremony.

“Are you truly serious about becoming her maker? Adopting her into the bloodline?” he asked. Disappointment surged up in the bond and I flinched at the feel of it in my blood. “You told her you were, yet I found out from Pamela you agreed to completing the ceremony tonight just before dawn. Did you not think this was important enough to tell me? Adding her to the bloodline was simply not worth mentioning? An afterthought to you?”

I suddenly felt rooted to the floor, stilling completely in disbelief. Godric doubted my conviction? My commitment to becoming Jess’s maker? He doubted my word?

Godric doubted me.

I slowly unfroze when that thought hit me, my limbs loosening and relaxing completely as I absorbed the alien feeling, the feeling of being doubted. Never, never once had Godric’s faith wavered in my word before or my commitment to my kin. My word was my bond and my kin were my life. I’d already given my word to Jessica, Godric witnessed it. I just sped up the timetable when she begged me to- but giving her that word? It meant we already had a bond, and I would not let Godric sever that.

My emotions darkened, brewing into a wicked storm as his words left me bleeding inside, like he’d taken a whip to me. I was nothing more than a mix of fury at the insinuation I wasn’t serious, outraged he thought I would give her my word, give her hope, and not truly mean it. I felt Eric trying desperately and fruitlessly to absorb my wrath and keep it from boiling over. He knew me well enough to brace himself for this storm front the second Godric voiced the thought, yet Godric didn’t. It turned out my maker still had some things left to learn about me after all. Using this tactic? It made me wonder if he truly even saw me for who I was.

It was a saddening thought.

Godric hadn’t yet felt the extent of my anger though and continued blindly walking onto my emotional minefield, “I’m not sure I can give you permission to sponsor and adopt her if you can’t even spare the time to inform me of such a monumental decision-“

The lights installed in the ceiling behind me burst in an explosion of sparks and glass before I even realized what was happening. In a split-second everything changed. The air became charged with electricity and my fingers burned like I’d been literally soaking them in embers. The fury I felt intensified in less than a heartbeat, beginning to scorch the bond with my maker while my bond with Eric and ties to my bloodline snapped violently shut. Godric’s eyes widened and his face became one of instant unease. He flew to his feet and began flooding the bond with calm, pitifully trying to put out a full-fledged firestorm with a drop of water, while the door burst open behind me.

“Sookie,” Eric started, alarmed and reached for me. I shrugged his hand away, staring down my maker with a new intensity, one I’d never felt before and couldn’t control. My voice came out dark and predatory with a wild edge and another set of lightbulbs shattered when I snapped out, “Do not interfere, Vampire.”

Eric backed off slowly, staring at me with an expression I couldn’t decipher, one I only caught out of the corner of my eye as I watched Godric. It hit me when I saw the same expression on my maker’s face- it was the look of an ancient vampire analyzing a threat.

They were right to feel threatened.

“You will not bar me in this, Godric,” I said in that uniquely wild and predatory tone. The Fae part of me had overwhelmed everything, no longer regarding Godric as my master. The fairy in me was furious with the idea someone would keep me from my kin, and Jessica was already kin to me. She was more than just kin, she was a mother, a sister, and a daughter all rolled into one. She was willingly going to bind herself to me as my child.

And every supernatural knew you never took a child from a fairy.

“Sookie, as your maker I command you to calm yourself, sit down, and listen,” Godric growled and his fangs dropped.

The electricity in the room crackled when the command pulled on my blood. I felt my body heat, flushing me from head to toe, and the burning spread to my palms. My bond with Godric finally snapped closed too and he reared back in surprise. Eric froze, becoming preternaturally still, when he  realized I had broken the command. I waited a beat for pain or pressure, something that felt anything like compulsion, but it never came. Godric stilled in that same preternatural way Eric did, realizing now how precarious the situation had become.

Because, now, Godric couldn’t control me.

“How did you break a command, Sookie?” Eric murmured and I turned my fiery gaze towards him. When he swallowed unnecessarily, a part of my heart ached beneath the fury. I would never hurt Eric and that single gesture cut me deep like a blade of silver. I wouldn’t harm Godric either. Neither of them were in true danger and yet they didn’t realize it. They didn’t trust me enough. They trusted vampire me but not the fairy, not all of me, and that hurt worse than the thought of being dipped in liquid silver from head to toe. The only danger they were in was the danger of seeing a fairy’s temper tantrum and a pointless light show.

A tear spilled down my cheek before I could stop it and I didn’t need to see the tear to know it wasn’t blood, I could tell by the way they gasped. I hadn’t bled. A fairy’s tears glittered like a diamond, a fact I learned from Godric long ago. I thought over Eric’s question and suddenly everything came into focus, bringing me back to the moment I first felt love for him. That night Godric had made a different misstep and I had thought to myself that if Godric didn’t change his tune, I would keep him from ever feeling that love again. My blood hummed in agreement with me at that moment, surprising me, but I hadn’t analyzed it until this very second. I could see it clearly now. Part of me knew I could keep the bond tucked away to keep my emotion safe. That same part of me knew he could never control me if I felt anything to do with the ones I loved had been threatened by him. I turned my watery gaze back to my maker and whispered, “No vampire commands the Fae.”

My tone had changed again, becoming soft and musical instead of predatory, but the notes were low tones of despair, of pain. They both physically started, their fingers twitching with the need to reach out to me, but they were either still too hesitant or afraid- I couldn’t tell which- to try. I spoke again, my voice holding the same painful chords, yet it also held an underlying steel in it, showing them I would not bend in this, “Jessica is mine. She will always be mine, ceremony or no, just as all my kin are and will be,” a flicker in Godric’s gaze told me he understood I was claiming him as kin too, even in my fairy state, “and nothin’ is more important to me. It’s true I didn’t have the chance to tell you of Jessica’s decision, but she’s so important that my commitment to a bond with her shouldn’t need to be said.” The air crackled again and my eyes flashed when I added in a more commanding tone, putting strength and a little bit of that Fae fire into it, “Never question the word of the Fae.”

I was very aware Godric had only meant to show me I needed to be committed to Jessica above all things, that I always needed to put my child first. I wasn’t blinded by my fury, but in doing so he had challenged my honor, challenged my word. Fairies never broke their word.

Neither did Stackhouses.

When I saw both understanding and acceptance dawn on him, I gathered my spark, pulling the electricity back into me and popped from the room, teleporting for the first time without a mental map in mind, just a powerful ache.

EPOV

I reached out to grab Sookie when I felt the electrical charge in the air suddenly shift, realizing she was going to flee. I threw out a curse in Old Norse when my hands connected with nothing but air. She was already gone and the very warmth and light in the room seemed to disappear with her.

Sookie thought I feared her now. I saw it on her face when the diamond-like tear fell from her eye. She thought I was afraid of her fairy nature and she thought that the second I swallowed. She didn’t realize watching her so fired up, watching her challenge Godric and override his command just turned me on. Like she pointed out earlier, her glittery fairy ass just unleashed the damn feral tiger in me.

And I was nearly salivating as I watched her. When she got fired up, it was like she was dangling a sizzling steak in front of that feral tiger and it took everything in me plus help from Godric not to pounce on her and take a bite.

Her very fairy aroma definitely hadn’t helped the situation either.

Her glittery tears, however, were a completely different matter. And her voice? The despair in it? The memory alone made me shudder in pain.

“What did I just do?” Godric quietly asked himself, collapsing back into his chair. I turned a hard eye on him. Our bond felt oddly numb, yet honestly I was surprised he hadn’t shut down on me. After being shut out for so many years, it was almost a foreign experience to feel Godric share this vulnerability with me. “I lost her,” he murmured brokenly and a wave of pain crashed into the bond, throwing me.

Letting me experience his pain was new territory completely.

“No, you hurt her,” I corrected him, a bitter edge to my tone. “But you haven’t lost her, master,” I added tiredly. He looked up at me, a little startled, and I realized he’d forgotten I was in the room.

“Not this time, Eric,” he sighed like a human. “I fear she is truly done with me. I have made many errors with her in the past, but none like this. I am afraid I am out of my depths when it comes to Sookie. In 2,000 years, I have never met a newborn such as she and I find myself at a loss at times on how to be her maker.” He sighed again and whispered, “I can’t even command her.”

I studied him as he sat there, defeated. I suddenly realized why it was Godric and not me who was destined to turn Sookie. I was in love with her and she never would’ve come to love me in the same way if I were forced to command her. And I would have commanded her often. Godric was different though. He rarely used commands and he no longer thought like the typical vampire, which was what Sookie needed. She needed a maker willing and able to change his views on life, like he had done with emotional control and his view on humanity. Godric had the capacity to reach the other side of her, think creatively, and was willing to try new ways to teach her. He was at a point in his life where he didn’t fear change, but longed for it. He was delighted when Sookie constantly surprised him and challenged him. Usually he met those challenges beautifully. Now he had faltered and it was obvious he needed a little help.

I sat down casually, kicked my feet up on his desk, and conversationally asked, “Have you seen the rest of this day-rest area?”

He gently shook his head and absentmindedly stated, “Just this room and the one she designed for me.”

“So you haven’t seen the main room then, the family room,” I added, keeping my tone normal and raised a brow.

He caught the way I said family and finally turned and looked at me. “Family room?” he repeated questioningly and I felt a spark of curiosity ignite in his blood.

I nodded and said, “There’s something unique about it. Something you should see.” I stood up and started walking towards the open door, “Come, Godric. I really think you should see this.”

I didn’t look back as I left the room, satisfied when I heard his footsteps behind me. I walked down the hallway and led him to the center of their home, the room Sookie put her very spirit into. I came to a stop just inside it and watched as Godric entered, taking it all in. His shoulders started to relax when he embraced the light-hearted airiness of the space, glancing at the furniture he created for her and running his hands over those same human touches I fondly noticed earlier. Finally, he was drawn to the far corner of the room, just as I was, and stood beneath the branches of the tree with a look of awe. Slowly, he explored the sculpture with his fingers, tracing the grain carved into it and tenderly touching the leaves. He ran an exploratory finger over the pearls and gems, feeling childlike wonder as he murmured, “Fairy lights!”

I stepped closer, coming to his side as he then took in the walls to each side of the tree and the intricately painted leaves interwoven with her simple frames. When he noticed the images, I felt his pleasure and surprise as if it were my own.

“It’s her family tree, Godric,” I said with a delighted smile of my own. He tore himself away from the images and looked at me, feeling a mixture of understanding and confusion. “Sookie was never claimed by her fairy kin,” I pointed out, “and all of her family died with the exception of her brother. A fairy thirsts for family, needs one like we need blood and Sookie found herself without one, so she formed her own.”

I turned to the right wall and pointed out the pictures of her deceased family members while I spoke, showing him her gran and her brother’s photos placed closest to the tree before I took a step to my right and pointed out the images of the humans she added to her family before she met me. I gestured to the ones of Lafayette and Tara, the next closest images, then the shifter, who she held as kin a step below them. Furthest from the tree were images of a couple people I noticed worked at the bar with her. I dug deep for their names, trying my best to remember who they were from the few times I had been to the bar. I thought they were of a man named Terry and the redheaded woman was Arlene.

“This wall is mainly the human aspect of her family,” I said before guiding him back to the tree and began showing him the photos on the left wall. “And this side,” I began, pointing at the picture of the race she framed and placed closest to the tree, “is mainly her vampire bloodline.” There were images of both sides mixed together on each wall, but most of the supernatural aspect of her family was on the left while the human aspect was on the right.

He followed me as I guided him through the images, feeling an amazing amount of familial love, wonder, warmth, and tenderness.

“Look at the pictures closest to the tree, Godric. The ones in the center. I believe she designed this with the most important people in her life closest to the tree,” I theorized contemplatively.

A jolt of shock went through the bond when he realized it was a photo of the two of us. We were the most important people in her life on this side and she placed WWII pictures of us at the center in a place of honor.

“Where did she get these?” he asked incredulously, turning to me.

Surprised, I asked, “You did not give them to her?” When he shook his head, I chuckled and stated, “Then my guess is she unearthed them when she stayed with you. She wanted to add you to her family tree and needed a picture to do it.”

He turned back to the photo and looked at it for a moment before beginning to examine the others.

“Pam takes a position mirroring the place her brother does on the other wall, so my guess is she doesn’t view her as a vampire niece, but as a sister. The pictures beneath her own are of Jessica, so she already views her as her child, Godric. When the bond between us was open, I dug in as deeply as possible and realized that Sookie keeps a constant eye on their tie. She is always aware of where Jessica is, how she feels, and unconsciously reacts to her emotions, flooding her with strength, love, support, and so much else without even thinking about it, adjusting the emotions constantly whenever Jessica’s emotions shift. “

He digested that piece of knowledge and unnecessarily sighed, “I called into question whether she could put Jessica first and hadn’t realized she already does. She’s already claimed her as a child of hers and I challenged her without knowing it. I was frustrated she hadn’t taken the time to tell me she was accepting Jessica as her child tonight and used the wrong tactic to teach Sookie she needed to always put her child first, but to Sookie the ceremony is simply a formality and Jessica is already her child. And she did tell me, after all. I just wasn’t listening well enough.” He paused and his voice got quieter, “I wasn’t listening to her blood and she was speaking through the blood.”

I nodded, pushing him agreement.

He turned back to me and sadly stated, “You know her better than I do, min son.”

“No,” I said forcefully, “I’ve known her longer, not better. I have hurt her many times in the past, Godric, and watching you two together has me striving to do better now.”

Godric pushed me pride and gratitude but still felt despondent, saying, “That doesn’t change what’s been done tonight. I’ve still lost her, Eric.”

“No, you haven’t,” I argued. “When she claimed Jessica earlier she said all of her kin will always be hers. Look at who she holds most dear, who she placed closest to the tree- you and me. We are her family, Godric, and a fairy needs their family to function, just as she needs us now. Possibly more than ever.”

I felt an enormous amount of relief when Godric’s jaw hardened and the bond filled with understanding, determination, and conviction. He paused for a moment to think, glancing around the room before speaking, “There is much to do tonight. We have been called on by the Authority and there are several things we need to discuss before meeting with them.”

I nodded and asked, “Do you know when?”

“Not yet,” he replied. “Do you know where Sookie would’ve gone?”

I paused and turned back to examine the human side of her family tree, instinctively knowing she wouldn’t have sought out Pam and Jessica in her fairy state. Finally, my eyes landed on the photos of those closest to the tree and I realized she would’ve sought council from her other maker, sought acceptance when she felt rejection. She would’ve sought out her Gran.

“Yes, I think so. I believe she may be in the cemetery, master. She would’ve sought out the woman who loved her unconditionally,” I stated.

His eyes flashed with sorrow, echoed in the bond, and he whispered, “Of course.” He then looked back up at me and spoke louder, “I will call Nora while you speak to Sookie. If she is still in her fairy state, my presence will anger her whereas I believe you may be able to soothe her. I need her to be willing to listen so I can make amends before we get to the other matters of the night.”

I nodded in agreement and turned to the spiral staircase situated in the opposite corner of the room from the tree, assuming it was the exit and began climbing. When I got to the top, Godric called out a security code to me. I found the keypad and entered the numbers. The trapdoor above me hissed as the security lock disengaged and I pushed it open, coming face to face with a closet.

Sookie’s idea no doubt. Clever little fae.

SPOV

I’d never teleported without a location planned out before. I didn’t even know I could and the only thing currently on my mind was the deep-rooted sorrow I felt, the ache to be trusted and accepted. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised when I ended up at Gran’s grave.

After all, she had always trusted me completely, never once did she doubt my word or my loyalty. She accepted every part of me, accepted me as a whole. I wrapped myself up in that acceptance as I fell to my knees in the grass and let my tears quietly flow. A few minutes later, a large arm wrapped itself around me and I leaned into Eric’s chest as he sat down next to me, tucking me into him. I wasn’t startled by his silent approach, I had sensed his mind moving closer.

“I fear your disappointment more than I fear those microwave fingers,” he admitted quietly. I looked up at him, somehow not surprised he knew what I was thinking. Sometimes I wondered who the true telepath was in our pairing. He lifted his hand to my face and brushed away a tear with his thumb, “And I definitely fear these more than your light. They make me feel disturbingly… human.” He swallowed the glittery tear and though his eyes dilated, he apparently didn’t like the emotion in it. “Stop them,” he said with a face that looked like he was commanding me yet it came out more like a plea.

“You swallowed,” I stated tonelessly, turning back to look at Gran’s grave. “You were afraid of me.”

He sighed unnecessarily and his breath on my neck sent a shiver down my spine. He fluidly moved himself around so he could wrap both arms around me, stretching his legs out on either side of me before raising his knees, fully trapping me in his presence. I felt him press his lips to my hair before he whispered, “You really should keep the bond open. You lost control of your scent completely when you went all ‘rebel fae’ on our maker and broke the command. I had to lock down every muscle in my body and when you turned and gave me that look?” A low rumbling started emanating from his chest and my lips involuntarily kicked up. “I had to swallow my own blood when my fangs dropped.”

I turned and quirked an eyebrow at him in a Seriously? expression.

“Yes, seriously,” Eric chuckled. “Open the bond,” he prodded. “I’ll prove it.”

I shook my head, resisting his request. My insides still felt too raw, too wounded and it was unfair to share that pain.

“Why?” he whispered, running his fingers slowly up and down my arms.

I sighed and reluctantly explained, “It hurts too much. It’ll hurt you.”

“Let me help. It’s what the bond is for, min ӓlskare.”

I twisted around with that answer, sliding my arm over his shoulder and doubtfully asked, “That’s what it’s for?”

He searched my eyes a moment with furrowed brows and nodded slowly. “Did you think it was just so I could feel you?” he asked, looking a little ticked off. I shrugged. I honestly thought it was about deepening how much we felt. “Sookie, I don’t need a bond to feel you. I could’ve just asked you to take more of my blood separately and I would’ve felt you just as strongly. I want to be connected to you at all times. I want to be a part of you and I need you to be part of me,” he explained softly but urgently.

Another tear spilled down my cheek and he lowered his head to catch it with his lips, this time purring when he tasted the love in it.

I opened the bond up slowly and he gently eased in, feeling out my emotions. I stared at his face, trying to pick up on his reaction when he came across the raw and bruised emotions inside me. His face hardened and he began pushing me love and total acceptance, using his blood to blanket the storm inside me, gently showering me in it all as he soothed away my rejection, anger, and hurt. When he amped up that love, more tears slipped out and the responding tidal wave of his relief let me know these tears were of blood. I was back to my normal fae-vampire mixture.

The vampire side of me kicked in while he wiped the tears from my face and I licked my lips hungrily when I caught the scent of my earlier tears.

They fucking smelled delicious.

“Holy shit, how can you just sit there when that scent is around?” I asked, shocked and immediately put a filter on my natural scent. His body relaxed instantly, suddenly making me aware of how tightly wound all of his muscles were, and he started shaking with silent laughter.

“You have no idea how difficult it was not to pounce on you when you challenged Godric and that scent came out,” he said, licking his own lips at the memory. I felt the honesty of his words and wasn’t sure if I should be happy he wasn’t afraid of the fairy in me or disconcerted by how much I could feel he wanted to feast on me. I think both surged up in our bond and he laughed silently again. “Like you said, Sookie, when the fairy pops out the feral tiger breaks free,” he said seriously then lightened the mood by growling deeply.

It should’ve bothered me how deeply sexy I found it.

“Stop,” I finally begged. “You’re just making me hungry and I haven’t fed.”

The sound quieted and he tilted his head, gauging my level of thirst. Finally, he tilted his head even more, baring his neck to me and said, “Take some of mine.”

“What?” I asked, surprised.

He momentarily straightened up and added, “You are extremely thirsty. My blood won’t satisfy you completely but it will help numb the pain until we get back and find you a drink.”

My fangs dropped before I could stop myself, remembering how delicious his blood was. His own dropped in reaction to mine and I giggled. I thought it was hilarious how our fangs seemed to trigger each other’s. I could feel his own amusement before a wave of astonishment flared up and he murmured, “You crave my blood.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that. Eric happened to have the best blood around, so I just softly admitted, “It tastes like rich white chocolate and rock salt, like these delicious truffles I used to buy whenever I had a chocolate cravin’. It’s salty and sweet, kinda like you. You were definitely the salt when I first met you, but you can be sweet when you choose to be.” He looked fascinated while I spoke. “Has nobody ever told you how good ya tasted?” I asked, surprised.

“I haven’t shared my blood with many, but nobody ever it phrased it like you just did. Lafayette did a happy dance and I’m pretty sure he nearly dry-humped a chair or something, but he didn’t say I tasted like that,” he said seriously.

I gave him an astonished look as I picked up the image of Lala’s blood dance from his mind and then burst into full-bodied laughter. “Oh man,” I weezed out between laughs, “I’m gonna keep that memory tucked inside forever.”

He smiled and agreed, “Yes, it’s a good one, isn’t it? I admit, lover, you surround yourself with the most curious people.”

I couldn’t shield my blood in time to keep him from feeling my agreement and he chuckled. I’d been inside their heads for years, their oddity was part of what drew me to them.

He bared his neck again and said, “Drink. You can have a sip anytime.”

I leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his jugular before I swept my tongue over it and gently sank my fangs in. I used my blood to lower his lust levels while I drank, keeping him at his normal apparently Sookie-induced state. He sighed while I pulled, drinking my fill of the rich blood and cradled me closer to him, running his nose along my own jugular. I could sense he wanted to bite and I was nearly tempted to let him, but that would be a second exchange and I already couldn’t find my footing around him. When the burning in my throat finally stopped, I reluctantly retracted my fangs, sealing the wound with a swipe of my tongue.

I licked the last of the blood from my lips and swallowed as I lifted my head. He had a hungry look of his own on his face and I kissed him. I purposefully nicked my tongue on his fang and treated him to my own blood. He deepened the kiss, determined to collect every drop he could before he gentled it again and pulled back, retracting his fangs.

“You can have a sip anytime too,” I offered in a whisper and he placed a much tenderer kiss on my lips while I felt how much pleasure he got from that statement.

“You’re going to regret that offer,” he said and started to stand up, pulling me to my feet. “I’m going to bite you randomly, often, and at the most inappropriate times,” he said and gave me a shit-eating grin.

I bit my lip worriedly because I could tell he wasn’t lying.

Shit.

He chuckled, pleased with himself, and asked, “Ready to go back?”

I turned and hesitantly looked towards the farmhouse. After a second, I softly stated, “You may not fear the fairy in me, but Godric does.”

“No, he doesn’t.” I looked back up at him, feeling his confidence. “He fears failing you as a maker. He berates himself when he makes mistakes with you, unsure for the first time in centuries on how to teach a newborn because there is no other like you. Now, he knows he cannot command the fairy in you and it worries him because he isn’t Fae, Sookie. He’s not sure how to guide that fairy side and even with over 2,000 years of experience, he will never know what it means to be Fae. He erred tonight because he treated you like a vampire, forgetting you are just as much a fairy as you are vampire. He’s realized now he has to treat you completely differently than he ever treated me or Nora. It will be a learning experience and challenge for you both.”

“But does he think I’ll hurt him? When I go all ‘rebel fae’ on him?” I asked.

“No, Sookie,” Eric said gently. “He knows it’s in your very nature to protect him, especially in your fairy state. He does not fear you.”

He pushed his confidence and conviction to me while I weighed the honesty in his words. Finally, I nodded, pushing him acceptance and hope. He swept me off my feet before I could blink and took off at vamp speed. As the world blurred past me, I suddenly realized I’d somehow stepped right back into the whirlwind.

I found I didn’t mind the spinning so much with Eric’s arms safely tucked around me.